D'un Chat Noir à Un Autre
by Unstoppable Cyborg
Summary: AU: Félix never expected to take over for either of his parents and be the one to raise Adrien. Then again, he never expected any of this. Collection of oneshots rated K-T.
1. Two Years Younger

**Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir_** **. Thomas Astruc does. He is really awesome about sharing info such as the stuff he shared about Félix.**

 **Gratuitous French will be used courtesy of Google Translate, but I do not speak French so I would like to apologize in advance to any French-speaking fans I may have.**

* * *

Adrien had this strange, almost unfamiliar, glint in his eyes, but Félix was just glad it wasn't tears. Oh, _Dieu merci_ it wasn't tears. He had expected his younger brother to be crying since it was his first birthday without their mère, and their père had pretty much forgotten. Their père had pretty much forgotten that he had _sons_ much of the time; why should he expect him to remember Adrien's birthday? Adrien may have expected it, but he was so young. He was almost still innocent. It was then that Félix realized what his brother's eyes shone with. Oh, no. Mischievous six-year-olds were bothersome creatures. True, the boy had been six for three hours, but still. Chloé had been six for a month and a half more, and she... well, she was always bothersome. But she was more bothersome when she was mischievous because she would convince Adrien to do something.

"You're eight, right?" Adrien said, grinning. Félix ignored the fact that it was the same type of grin his brother would use when he'd steal a sheet of his music and force the elder to chase the younger around the house to get it back. He was just thankful that he was smiling.

"Yes, and you're point is?"

The younger of the two broke into a fit of giggles. "I'm only two years younger than you!"

"What? No, you're- You see- Well it's only for five more days!"

* * *

"Happy Birthday, frérot," the nearly-eleven-year-old Félix said to his brother.

"Thanks! So, how _does_ it feel to know that you've once again ceased to age as fast as I do?"

"Oh, I don't know, thankful because then it'll be longer until I'd-" He clamped a hand over his mouth, not wanting to say the d-word in front of his brother.

"Until you die. Ugh, I'm nine years old and most definitely totally not fragile!" He tried not to groan as he realized just how much like Chloé his brother sounded. "If anything you're the fragile one - how many times have you tripped over your own feet even when your shoelaces are tied in the past month?" So he had noticed. Félix had discovered the secret of their mère's ring recently, and the bad luck that came with it. That was funny; couldn't remember his mother ever tripping over anything. Why did Plagg choose to be more cruel to him? Did the curse lessen with age?

"Besides, unlike me you're smart. You're going to be a really good doctor and then you'll find a way to... uh... do important doctor-y stuff." The part about him wanting to become a doctor was true, but it hurt to hear Adrien describe himself as not being smart. Sure, he wasn't as good at academics as Félix was due to the current struggle to find the proper medication for his ADHD, but that didn't mean he was any less intelligent.

"Adrien, why do you say that you're not smart?"

"Um... because Père says so?" Félix clenched his fists, wanting to go to their father's office and unleash a torrent of bad luck, or even worse curses that he wasn't even aware he was capable of yet.

* * *

Adrien was a bit sore from fighting Bubbler, but it wasn't his body that hurt. No, what hurt was... everything. It stung for his père to push Nino away like that. He appreciated the thought, but there was a dull pain throughout his body as he thought about how he had been at least partly the reason for his best friend's descent into villainy. He felt even worse when he thought about how _that_ wasn't what was putting him in the most emotional agony, agony that not even Ladybug's smile could cure.

Tears rolled down Adrien's face and onto the scarf his father had given him. It was so unlike his père to give him such a gift. It was more like something _he_ would have done, but Félix was dead. Adrien picked up a framed photograph of the two of them, and his tears fell on it as well.

"What did I do wrong, frère? How could I not have noticed? Oh mon Dieu, what did I do wrong?" He wiped away his tears, and forced a smile. "You know, if you were still here, _if you hadn't_ _given up,_ then I'd be two years younger than you today rather than three." His smile fell away, revealing a stoic sort of fury. "But instead, we're the same age now." _  
_

* * *

Félix's finger hovered over the "ask" button on the blog that Ladybug and Chat Noir were using. The current Chat Noir, of course. He had given up the ring; it was never his anyway.

A small white akuma landed on the hovering finger, reminding him. "Ouais ouais, I know, I can't let him know I'm alive, or at least not until I figure out how to deal with you guys and my _actual_ powers and release the others from Père." He took one last look at the message before closing the browser.

 _BTW, frérot, you're still three years younger than me._


	2. Caffeine

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir_** **.**

 **Okay, this is probably so OOC and AU that it's not even funny, but whatever. Just to clarify things, unless stated otherwise all of these fics take place in the same universe.  
**

* * *

Félix reached for what must have been the fourth espresso in the past three hours. Dieu, he didn't know how his mother had done it. Being Chat Noir was so hard, and then there was regular everyday life. He found himself clamping his hand over a slightly smaller one. "Adrien, let go."

The smaller hand let go of the cup and dropped to the side of the body it was connected to. "Did you sleep last night?" he asked his older brother. Merde, he had forgotten how perceptive the ten-year-old was.

"What makes you say that?" he asked defensively.

"You're drinking your coffee, and you have bags under your eyes," Adrien stated. "Besides, you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh _course_ I slept last night." It was only for three hours, but it counted as sleeping, right? Adrien stared at the cup and didn't leave his brother's side.

"Yes, Adrien?" Félix asked.

"May I have a sip?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It could spread germs."

"I'll use a straw."

"You'll backwash."

"I haven't backwashed since I was six!"

"It'll stunt your growth."

"You're drinking it, and boys don't stop growing until they're sixteen. That's _three more years_."

"Yeah, well, things vary."

"You aren't making a very convincing argument." Plagg teased his false host about how Adrien had just the right inflection.

"It has caffeine."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Yes." Adrien paused to contemplate this. His reply came out with more anger than intended.

"Why do I have to be the one who can't do anything?"

"Wait, what do you mean?" Surely Adrien didn't think of himself like that, right?

"The only time that I'm not worthless is when I'm on the stupid pills! And then I'm not _me_! Sometimes I wonder if Père even loves me and if he just uses me as a _mannequin_ , because that's _obviously_ all that I'm worth." The younger of the two boys stopped suddenly, realizing that he was saying too much. "I should just go."

Before he could leave, he felt a pair of arms envelope him. The foot that was indirectly connected to the arms ignored the hot espresso being dropped on it as Félix held his sobbing brother.


	3. When the Moon meets the Stars

**Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir_** **.**

 **Okay, so this is even more AU than I thought it would be. In case I wasn't clear in the first chapter, in this collection their mom died when Adrien was five and Félix was eight instead of however old Adrien actually was when Mrs. Argeste died (tween years, I'm guessing). Heck, she might not even be dead in canon, but is in this AU.**

* * *

Félix heard his seven-year-old brother crying. They were small, quiet, choked sobs, like he didn't want anyone to know about them.

Correction: like Adrien didn't want _his brother_ to know about them because Félix was the only one who would actually notice. Or at least, Félix was the only one who would notice and _care_.

"Adrien?" he asked softly, knocking on the door. "It's me. Can I come in?"

"No," the crying boy said, trying to cover up sadness with anger.

"Well," Félix tried, realizing that he might be just as bad at this whole thing as his père was. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he said again. "Go away."

Félix had a piano lesson the next day. He really needed to practice, especially since he hadn't done so since he had found the black cat ring. He was beginning to wonder if it was cursed; he tripped more since he had put the ring on than in the past year. However, instead of Moonlight Sonata, he found himself plunking out another tune.

D, D, A, A, B, B, A, G, G, F#, ah, it was Mozart. But why was he playing Mozart? He was supposed to be trying to play Beethoven.

F#, E, E, D, A, A, G, G, F#, F#, it was something other than Mozart as well. He was creating a harmony, or perhaps a counter-melody, with his left hand.

E, A, A, G, G, F#, F#, E, D, D, but still, why was he playing a childish piece?

A, A, B, B, A, G, G, F#, F#, E, E, D. Oh. Right. It was Adrien's favorite song.

He heard footsteps behind him, and prepared an excuse for practicing the wrong piece. However, it wasn't anyone of that sort.

"Félix?" Adrien said, sitting next to his brother on the piano bench. "Can you teach me to do the left-hand part of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'?"

"Sure," he replied. "Are you feeling better?" The younger of the Argeste siblings shrugged.

* * *

Adrien was passing by his fifteen-year-old brother's room when he heard sobbing.

"Félix?" he asked, knocking on the door.

"Go away!" It wasn't a reply but it seemed like one. Adrien backed away slowly from the door before he ran off. Félix curled up into an even tighter ball, glaring through tears at the white butterflies that wouldn't go away. He had the ability to purify the akumas, but why were they swarming him? They had been doing that for the past month now.

After half an hour of listening to his brother's attempts at playing the piece he had been assigned and struggling to force all of the akumas into his closet, Félix wiped his eyes and exited his room.

He stood behind the struggling tween, noting the mistake he kept making. It seemed that the boy had misplaced his music, and was trying to play the piece by ear. Right before he could play the wrong note, Félix placed his own finger on the right one.

Adrien turned out, and Félix took note of his appearance. His green eyes were rimmed with faint red, like he had been struggling to keep his own tears in. A selfish part of him told Félix that why should he care about his little brother? He was twelve years old now, he needed to grow up.

Up until a few months later, he thought _that_ was the proof that he was actually his father's son. But for now, he carefully sat himself down beside his little brother and tried to help him as best he could. The question of if either of them were okay hung heavy in the air.

* * *

It had been three years since Adrien had last tried to play Moonlight Sonata. He had been starting to get the hang of it with Félix's help, but then he had disappeared. The fact that it had been his favorite piece didn't help matters at all.

The youngest Argeste guessed that if he was able to finish the piece, then maybe he could let his brother go. And so he sat himself down at the piano, forcing himself to play the piece. His fingers danced with a new nimbleness over the keys. Black and white seemed to govern his life so much now. Was the black truly bad? His enemeies were created by black butterflies, and he didn't quite trust the white ones as much as his partner. He recalled a conversation he had had earlier in his life.

* * *

"Adrien, why aren't you using the black keys?" Félix had asked, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

Green eyes met blue. "Because black is bad."

"Wait, what? Why is black bad?" The indignation came from Félix as much as it did silently from Plagg.

"Because... because in my books, the villains wear black. Also, Chloé says it isn't that good of a color."

"Who do you trust more: Chloé or me?" Adrien's face paled slightly, and it took all of his brother's willpower not to smack himself on the forehead. Wrong move.

"Why do I have to choose between the two of you?"

"Okay, you don't. But does Chloé play the piano? No. She's probably just talking about clothes." Hopefully Adrien wouldn't refuse to wear black when their father or one of the photographers told him to. "And besides, Chat Noir wears black, and isn't he a hero?"

"Yeah."

"So black isn't bad, right?"

"Maybe."

* * *

Adrien gave a dark, mirthless chuckle. Félix couldn't have known how much his words were going to affect him. Sure, Chat Noir was a hero, but back when Félix had been alive he was the only hero. Now that role had been passed to Adrien, and Ladybug had started fighting slightly before he had. He wasn't nearly as good as either of them.

But... but did he just play the piece as well as...? Adrien recoiled from the piano like it was spray bottle, and let the memory of the just-played piece ring throughout his mind.

He had done it. He may have not been as good of a hero as the previous Chat Noir or as Ladybug, but he had played Moonlight Sonata as well as his brother had. Numbly, he closed the cover.

Nathalie found him half an hour later, collapsed over the piano with heaving shoulders and tears on his dark lashes like dying stars.

* * *

 **If you and/or your loved ones have been at all harmed by the recent natural disasters in Mexico and Japan, or the attacks in Lebanon and Paris, then please know that I'm praying for you. Heck, if you're hurting for _any_ reason, then I'm praying for you.  
**


	4. Thief

**Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir_** **.**

 **Now for something different, this isn't so much about Adrien and Félix as it is about their mom, a previous Chat Noir. Since she hasn't been given an official first name yet, I'm going to be calling her Victoire. She'll get important eventually, but for now it's just an introduction.  
**

 **Huge thanks to everyone who's faved, followed, and/or reviewed.**

* * *

Victoire Agreste was known for many things. She was a model, she was a mother of two sons, and she was married to one of the world's top fashion designers. She was also known for her charity. When asked about it, she claimed she was giving back and paying it forward.

* * *

Victoire Belrose, no, _Chat Noir_ , smirked as her Cataclysm took hold on the bank's doors. She had already knocked out the cameras and guards with her staff, which meant the money would be hers. It was _so easy_. She'd of course, claim that she was getting it from odd jobs when her mother asked where she got it from. Besides, she doubted she'd actually care that much.

That was when a spotted yo-yo wrapped around her arm. Well, then. That would certainly complicate things.

Ladybug pulled the struggling teenager towards her, stepping on the girl's tail the second she had a chance and turning the child towards her so she could see her face. The young thief couldn't be any older than fifteen, although that was mostly the look in her eyes. The look of a child who had had to grow up too fast. She was probably closer to being only twelve, maybe just barely thirteen.

Chat Noir gave a weak smile to the woman. "You know, we could split the difference? Fifty-fifty?" All she got was the woman hoisting her over her shoulder and taking her out of the bank. She tried kicking her, but the middle-aged woman was certainly tougher than she looked.

"Kitten, I've dealt with worse criminals than you, so don't even think about it," she cautioned. The girl's ring beeped, and a thought came to the woman. "Okay, listen," Ladybug said, mostly releasing the girl. "You have four minutes left. Either you can go back there, or you can come with me." A loud siren could be heard in the distance. "I've already called the cops, by the way. It's your choice."

Chat Noir looked at the bank, at the woman, at the bank, and asked, "Why are you doing this?" She didn't answer, and the ring beeped again. Only three more minutes. "Okay, I'll come with you." Chat found herself being picked up once again, and this time she didn't try to kick her way out. The woman took to the rooftops and ran across them until they reached a flat one that was far enough away to be safe. Chat was set down upon it, and the moment her feet made contact with it she found herself changing back.

"Plagg," Ladybug said bitterly as she saw the kwami. The cheese-eating glutton glared at her before flying into the pocket of his host's cardigan. "As troublesome as ever, I suppose."

"Why are you doing this?" Victoire asked.

"Why were you about to rob that bank?" Ladybug countered.

"What's it to you?"

"To decide if I should take you back there and let you get arrested."

"Look, it's form my maman and sister! Some of us don't really get nice things, and so if you're given powers then, hey, might as well use them for your own good!" That was when Victoire realized that perhaps she should have lied and said that she was doing this for some Robin Hood like reason rather than for her family's personal gain.

"Good enough," Ladybug said.

"Wait, so you're letting me go?"

"No."

"But I thought you said-"

"Just because I'm not turning you into the cops doesn't mean I'm turning you loose. Now, what do you say about being my sidekick?"

"Why didn't you just leave me there?"

"Because you're still young. When you're young, you tend to do things for more innocent reasons. If you had only been talking about benefiting yourself, then I'd leave you there to dry. However, you're just trying to help your family, so I'm going to teach you to help your family by _protecting_ them. Paris can be a dangerous place, but there's heroes like us to protect it. That is, if you want to be a hero. If not, then, well, you shouldn't have that ring." Plagg made a muffled retort about how Tikki and practically all of her hosts were goody-two-shoes, but he was ignored.

"Okay. Fine," Victoire said with annoyance. "I'll be your sidekick. I left the cheese at home, though, so am I supposed to stay up here until Plagg recharges or can you do some magic stuff so that he won't need the cheese?" Instead, she found herself being hoisted over the woman's shoulder. Perhaps she could get used to this.

"Oh, and also?" Ladybug said as she set the girl on the ground. "I have a son about your age, and if the roles of me and your mother were exchanged, then I'd certainly hope that she'd treat him the way I'm treating you."


End file.
